Lighters



L. HUTCHINSON ETAL' LIGHTERS Sept. 27, 1955.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1- Filed April 50, 1951 p 1955 L. HUTCHINSON EI'AL2,718,770

LIGHTERS Filed April 50, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States PatentLIGHTERS Leonard Hutchinson, Burgh Heath, and Frederick William Binks,London, England Application April 30, 1951-, Serial No. 223,805

Claims priority, application Great Britain May 4, 1950 3 Claims. or.67-71) This invention relates to lighters and more particularly toautomatic lighters of the kind in which the operation thereof causes aspark to be applied to a wick whereby a flame is produced. I

The invention has for its main object to provide an 1mproved form ofautomatic lighter which can be assembled more easily and cheaply than inthe case of lighters heretofore known and which is substantiallyvapour-proof and odourless when in the closed position.

The invention accordingly consists in an automatic lighter in which themovable parts for elfecting the rotation of the flint wheel are mountedon a supporting member which is detachably secured .to the lighter bodyby a tubular member adapted'to house the flint.

The invention also consists in an automatic lighter in which the snuffercap which is adapted to close over the wick when the lighter is closed'is suspended in such away as to be capable of swinging in any direction"whereby a substantially vapour-proof seal is effected when the shutteris seated on the wick nipple. 7

According to the preferred arrangement, the movable parts of the lightercomprise a pair of'levers which are pivotally secured to each other andto the aforesaid supporting member, such member being secured to thelighter body by the flint tube, one end of which engages with saidsupporting member and the other end of which is secured to the lighterbody by securing means recessed within the base of the lighter body.

The invention will be more completely understoodfrom the followingdetailed description which is given in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the main structural parts of a lighterconstructed in accordance with the invention, the casing being shown indotted'lines;

Figure 2 is a sectional side view of the upper part of the lighter;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line AA of Figure l; and

Figure 4 is an exploded view of the lighter.

Referring now to these drawings, the lighter bodyis constructed in theform of a hollow prism 1 of substantially rectangular cross sectionrounded at the edges so that the prism has two parallel flat sidesjoined together by curved walls. The lighter body is closed at each endby top and bottom plates, the top plate 2 being sweated, secured or castpermanently in position, and the bottom plate 3 being located inposition by means of a recess orchannel 4 into which the bottom end ofthe lighter body 1 fits, and is secured to the said lighter body bymeans of a nut 5 which screws on to the bottom end of the said .flinttube 6., the nut being housed in an apertured upstanding sleeve 7 formedon the bottom .plate3. Also a resilient gasket 7 fits into the recess orchannel 4 in the bottom plate 3 and acts as a seal between the saidbottom plate 3 and the bottom end of the lighter body 1. This forms aleak proof hollow container which serves as a fuel reservoir which isfilled with cotton-wool or other absorbent material. The abovementionedmethod of securing the bottom plate facilitates the speedy removal ofthe said bottom plate for re-packing the lighter body with freshcotton-wool or other absorbent material and ensures an air-tight jointwithout any unsoldering and re-soldering being required. In addition tothe aperture provided through the sleeve 7 for the flint tube 6, thebottom plate .3 has two further apertures 8 and 9 for receiving the fueland the wick, such apertures being normally closed. by a pair of screwthreaded plugs 10 and 11, while the top plate 2 is provided with a wicknipple 12, an aperture for the flint tube 6, and a locating lug 13, thepurpose of which will be hereinafter described.

The moving parts of the lighter consist of a flint wheel 14, aspring-loaded, hand-operated lever 15, and a second lever 16 whichcarries a snuflier cap 17 and is operatively connected to thehand-operated lever 15 so that the movement of the latter brings about aswinging movement of the second lever 16 which lifts the snuflfer cap 17and rotates the flint wheel 14 so as to generate a shower of sparks.These two levers 15 and 16 are pivotally mount- .ed in a detachable andsupporting member 18 which is .secured to the lighter body by the flinttube, this sup: porting member also providing a mounting for the flintwheel. This supporting member is constructed in the form of a brackethaving a flat base and two upstanding sides. Two pairs of holes 29 and30 are formed in these upstanding sides in which are disposed twotrunnions, one of which 19 passes through holes 42 in the handoperatedlever 15 and carries thereturn spring 20, while the other trunnion 21carries the flint wheel 14 and the second lever 16, the latter having apair of arms 22 which embrace the flint wheel 14 and are provided withholes 43 within which the aforesaid trunnion 21 is arranged. The twolevers 15 and 16 are linked together by a third trunnion 23 which .isarranged to pass through slots 24 in the hand-operated lever 15 andthrough holes 44 in the lever 16, the latter trunnion 23 being disposedbetween the pivotal axis 21 of the second lever 16 and the snufier cap17, and the slots 24 in the hand-operated lever 15 being triangular inshape, so as to permit the trunnion 23 linking the two levers to movefreely within these slots when the hand-operated lever 15 is actuatedand thereby permit, the second lever 16 to swing upwards. 'The flintwheel 14 is controlled by a pawl and ratchet mechanism consisting of .aleaf spring 25 which is arranged to co-operate with a set of saw teeth26 formed on one side face of the flint wheel 14, the trunnions 21 and'23 being arranged to pass through the holes 45 and 46 respectively inthe pawl 25, so as to hold the latter in position. In addition to theholes 29 and 30 provided in the side parts of the supporting bracket 18for the aforesaid trunnions, the base of the bracket 18 is provided withan aperture immediately below the flint wheel 14 for the flint tube 6,the upper end of the latter having a head 27 which engages with aresilient washer 28 situated between the base of the supporting bracket18 when the flinttube 6 is placed in position, a washer 28 beingprovided on the flint tube 6 immediately below the bracket 18 to preventany leakage of fuel when the lighter is assembled.

The sides of the lighter body 1 are provided with triangular shapedextensions 31 which when the various parts of the lighter are assembledfit over the side parts of the aforesaid supporting bracket 18 and coverthe ends of the trunnions 19, 21 and 23, thereby holding the latterinplace and preventing their unauthorised removal after the :lighter isassembled.

The lower end of the flint tube 6 is secured to the bottom plate 3 bymeans of the aforesaid sleeve part 7 around the flint bore aperture, thelower end of the flint tube 6 being screw-threaded and being held inposition by a locking nut 5 which screws on to the lower end of theflint tube and rests against a resilient washer 28B and the upper end ofthe aforesaid sleeve 7. This locking nut 5 is housed within such sleeveand is thus recessed within the base of the lighter so that it cannot beremoved without the use of a special tool adapted to fit into the sleeve7 and engage with slots 32 in the outer end of the nut. Conveniently thelower end of the flint tube 6 is provided with a screw-threadedextension, and a screw-threaded plug 33 is provided for engaging withthe extension within the lower part of the sleeve 7 so as to close therecess and a washer 28c completely obscures the locking nut 5 from view.Additional screwthreaded plugs 8 and 9 are also provided for closing theapertures in the base plate 3 for the fuel and wick respectively, andthe flint tube 6 is provided with the usual spring 34 which is held inposition against the base of the flint 35 by the aforesaid plug 33 whenthe latter is screwed into position.

In order to locate the upper part of the lighter in position on thelighter body the supporting bracket 18 is provided with a rectangularshaped slot 36 at one end, which is adapted to engage with the aforesaidupstanding lug 13 formed on the top plate 2 of the lighter body 1, thebracket 18 being held in engagement with this lug 13 when the lockingnut 5 is screwed home on the end of the flint tube 6, thereby clampingthe upper part of the lighter securely against the top plate 2 of thelighter body.

It will thus be seen that with this arrangement an automatic lighter isformed which can be very quickly and easily assembled since the variouscomponent parts which make up the lighter movement are detachablyarranged on a single supporting member which is in turn secured to thelighter body by the flint tube. Moreover this construction also has theadvantage that all the connecting parts are hidden from view and thelighter cannot be dismantled after assembly by any unauthorized personwithout the use of a special tool.

In order that the lighter may be completely vapourproof and thereforeodourless the snufier cap 17 is formed as a separate unit and issuspended within a recess 37 in the aforesaid lever 16 in such a way asto be capable of swinging in any direction so that when the lighter isclosed the snuffer cap is always firmly and accurately seated on thewick nipple 12. In order to achieve this universal swinging action thesnutfer cap is provided with a part spherical face 38 at its upper end,and an annular groove 39 near its upper end, and a circlip or other formof annular spring member 40 is disposed in the groove and is sotensioned as to engage with the walls of the recess 37 in which thesnufler cap is housed so that the snutfer cap is in fact suspended fromand retained by the circlip 40 as shown in Figure 4, so as to be capableof swinging in any direction, a small clearance space being allowedbetween the walls of the snufier cap 17 and the surrounding walls of therecess 37 so as to permit this swinging movement, and the circlip 40being arranged to form a loose fit within the annular groove 39 so as toallow the universal movement of the snuifer cap when it moves intocontact with the wick nipple. The recess 37 in which the snufler cap 17is housed has an angular face 41 at its upper end, and when the snuffercap rests on the wick nipple the part spherical face 38 on the upper endof the snuffer cap seats on the said angular face 41 in the recess.

We claim:

1. Automatic lighter comprising a body part containing a fuel reservoir,a base plate having an upstanding sleeve'member formed on the inner sideof the base plate, said base plate being detachably arranged in thelower end of said body part so as to form a closure for said fuelreservoir, a tubular member for housing a flint and control springdetachably mounted in said body part and projecting into said upstandingsleeve member, a supporting member carrying a flint wheel mounted on theupper part of said tubular member, a first lever carrying a snuffer cappivotally mounted on said supporting member, and a hand-operated leveralso pivotally mounted on said supporting member and operativelyconnected with said first lever, one end of said tubular member having ahead part engaging with said supporting member, and the other end ofsaid tubular member engaging with a securing nut recessed within theupstanding sleeve member on said base plate, a screw-threaded plug forretaining said flint control spring also engaging the end of saidtubular member so as to form a closure for said sleeve member, saidtubular member, said supporting member, said flint wheel, said firstlever and said hand operated lever forming an integral assemblyremovable as a unit from said fuel reservoir upon removal of said plugand releasing of said securing nut.

2. Automatic lighter comprising a body part containing a fuel reservoir,supporting means for a flint and wick, a first lever mounted for pivotalmovement, a hand-operated member also mounted for pivotal movement andoperatively connected with said first lever, and a snuffer cap mountedwithin a recess in said first lever for engaging with said wick, saidsnuffer cap being suspended in position'by a resilient annular memberdisposed within an annular groove in the snuffer cap and engaging withthe walls of said recess, said resilient annular member forming a loosefit within the groove in the snuffer cap, and the walls of such snuffercap being spaced apart from the walls of the recess by a small clearancespace so as to permit the snuifer cap to swing freely, the recess inwhich the snuffer cap is housed and the snulfer cap having cooperatingseating faces when the snufler cap rests on the wick nipple to permit auniversal movement of the snufler cap.

3. An automatic lighter comprising a fuel reservoir having a detachablebase plate, a single securing means therefor comprising a threaded nutrecessed in an upstanding sleeve member formed on the inner side of thebase plate, a flint tube for housing a flint and control spring threadedat one end for engaging the nut and having its other end secured to alighter assembly comprising a flint wheel, snuifer cap and operatinglevers for the cap and the flint wheel, a screw-threaded plug forretaining said flint control spring also engaging the end of said flinttube so as to form a closure for said sleeve member, the flint tube, itsaforesaid associated sparking elements and the lighter assembly beingremovable as a unit from the fuel reservoir upon unscrewing the plug andnut from the flint tube and thereby also releasing the base plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

